Hotel Simón

An amazing cheap hotel with olde world Spanish atmosphere in an 18th-century mansion just a block from the cathedral in Seville

This 18th-century mansion in the historic center—on a side street just a block from the cathedral—manages to give off that wonderful feeling of a Seville hotel from yesteryear.

It just feels authentic—perhaps because it was the flagship of Spain's first hotel chain, started in the 19th century by the Simón family (at the end of the Civil War they sold it to the Aguayo family, which still runs the joint).

From the central courtyard draped in greenery around a fountain in the middle (where check-in and breakfast happen), you ascend wide staircases to dimly-let halls paved in hand-painted tiles—wonderfully aged and cracked in places—with salons where paintings are lit by chandeliers.

Very Olde World elegant.

Rooms vary widely, but even the simplest ones are well-decorated rooms, with gauzy curtains that billow with the breeze.

(For what it's worth, I had one of the best siestas of my life in one of these rooms. They just feel comfortable.)

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